1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved combination stone rake and ground conditioning machine including tines which simultaneously remove small stones and other debris from a plowed field or lawn area while leveling and removing small plants and other material that would interfere with subsequent planting operations. More particularly, the novel machine of the present invention pertains to lawn landscaping operations for the preparation of lawn landscapes by removing stones that would otherwise interfere with seeding and subsequent mowing operations. The tractor hitch mounted combination machine is particularly adapted for residential lawn or landscape preparation by providing a combination resilient raking and ground preparation action.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A number of devices exist in the prior art for either removing rocks from prepared or unprepared fields or the subsequent conditioning or preparation of soil for planting of seed. Consequently, in the utilization of prior art devices, the landscaper has a choice of first using a rock mover to remove rocks from the landscape and then subsequently use a ground preparation device for scarifying and otherwise breaking up and conditioning the ground so that it is in a condition for the surface planting of seed for lawn or crops. In practice, however, the utilization of separate machines for stone raking and ground preparation is not economically feasible in residential landscaping nor is it desirable in all operations to remove deeply embedded rocks that will not interfere with lawn or crop operations with cumbersome machinery. As a result, in residential landscaping and garden operations, the removal of stones has been generally accomplished by hand raking with the soil thereafter being conditioned for planting by either a further hand operation or by machinery.
In the rock removal art, various devices are available which move a variety of rock sizes from at or beneath the surface of the ground. The machine in U.S. Pat. No. 2,938,586 removes rocks and stones from plowed fields by utilizing a hydraulically activated rotary member. This machine, like the device described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,971,587, 2,924,284 and 3,117,631 and other such prior art devices, utilize a rotary member and a means for raising and lowering the rotary member for the removal of stones, rocks andd other materials at or beneath the surface of the ground. These prior art devices, unlike the present invention, do not provide the combination stone raking and ground conditioning action of the present invention and are not tractor hitch mounted to allow operation in confined and limited areas such as encountered in the landscaping of small residential and commercial lawn operations. Such devices are more applicable to large fields and rock removal operations where subsequent soil conditioning is desirable prior to planting or seeding operation. Consequently, unlike the present invention, these machines have limited maneuverability in confined areas and do not provide the combination stone raking and ground conditioning aspects of the present invention.
There also exists in the prior art various machines for conditioning the soil prior to planting or seeding operations. Such prior art machines as represented in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,800,065 and 2,221,221 and other arts such as represented by peanut harvesters, potato pickers, and the like involve some aspects of soil conditioning in the preparation of the ground for planting or harvesting. The soil conditioner art for planting and seeding operations as represented by the cited patents pertaining to soil conditioners do not remove debris and small rocks but instead rely upon a prior hand raking or separate mechanical raking operations to accomplish this result.
The prior art methods of removing rocks and preparing the soil have consequently shared the disadvantage of requiring a two-step operation, which first requires the removal of rocks, debris and other materials from a roughly plowed field or lawn area, and which then requires a separate soil scarifying or aerating procedure to prepare the soil for seeding, planting or other applications involving the growth of crops or lawns.
The prior art machines heretofore described have not found widespread application to residential landscaping operations since the operation of such equipment is either too expensive or cumbersome to justify its application to residential lawn and gardening. In residential and small commercial landscaping sites, hand labor has been employed for raking and removal of stone, cans, sticks and other material and debris prior to the conditioning of the soil for seeding. It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that if such small stones and rocks were not removed, such small stones, rocks and other debris would not only interfere with planting and seeding operations, but would present a hazzard in subsequent mowing operations since such small stones are often caught up in a rotary mower to thereafter be propelled at the operator.
It has therefore been a goal of the landscaping and ground conditioning art to eliminate the hand labor necessary to remove rocks, debris and small plants that will otherwise interfere with seeding operation and at the same time put the ground in a condition for seeding. It has also been a goal to utilize lightweight machinery to accomplish this goal for use in the confined areas associated with residential and small commercial real estate development so that a tractor or other similar small vehicle may be utilized to remove small stones and prepare the ground for subsequent lawn planting or gardening operations.